General Forum

I am trying to negotiate a trade of somewhere between 200-300 cards involving cross border shipping and wondered how other members have faired in the past regarding "best" methods for shipping such quantities for both parties. Any input greatly appreciated.

PayPal ship now.

Don't ask me. I sent about 15 cards and it cost $11.50!

Below is a message to a trading partner on this matter:

Sent: Fri, 9/7/2018 5:13 PM  sorry for the delay in replying. OK, shipping cross border is an imperfect science. This is what I have observed going both ways. Firstly, you are not the first to ask this question. Some of your compatriots have it figured out. Others have not. I had a 3 card package come that USPS charged him $!0. Yikes! If USPS is anything like Can.Post thickness of the letter be it PWE or bubble is the first measuring stick. Here if it fits in a 3/4" slot in their tester it is considered letter mail. Unless many top loaders are warranted I can get 2 team bags 20 or so in each side by side through CP tester. Today I got 64 cards in one bundle cost him $10. I had sent him 51 using my method, $6 cdn.. Here if that fails then they measure widthxlengthxthicknessxweight to calculate package rate. The other thing I noticed is that you have a tracking number. Here we have to pay extra for that which is a rip off. $14 for a bubble mailer. I never get it unless contents warrant it. Are you paying extra for your tracking number. To me its pointless. Hope that helps. I hate to see crazy postage charges. It just turns off people trading especially to here. Kari

_There is obviously more weight and packaging involved with 200+ cards then discussed above. But I thought I'd share what I have learned so far... Perhaps some of my countrymen can share their tips and techniques.

Kari

I wish I knew a better way. I just spent $25.50 to send a 2 lb, 7 oz package to Canada which was about 400 cards. Not complaining, because I'm looking forward to the other end of the trade. 

After doing many trades, and being in Canada so 90% of my trades are international I have some observations.

karsal's info for us going south is solid. Another factor is how friendly you are with your PO. Documents and paper products cost less than other objects. So if you are sending from here something that weighs the same as a bubble filled with paper it is still more expensive than the bubble full of documents. My statement once was that cards are made of cardboard, which is paper, so my PO workers who I have got to know well always charge me the document rate on bubbles.

Also, yes if your PO worker in the States is a stick in the mud bubbles coming here on small to medium size trades are more expensive than us going there, however it depends alot on your relationship with your PO. I have had bubbles from the States arrive with under $4 postage, and similar packages arrive with $10 postage. Once the packages get larger though you seem to come out ahead, and As stated for us to get a tracking number can cost an extra $14-20 bucks!

Edit: I have no idea why the font changed

I just sent 178 cards to Canada for $5.83 using PayPal International

It took a bit longer than I anticipated, but my partner received them today. But I realize this doesn't answer the question of mailing from Canada to the US.